EASTERN PROVINCE

KIREHE — Remains of sixty two victims that perished during the 1994 Genocide were on Sunday re-buried in Kirehe district as the country ended the official mourning week.

More 200 remains will be given decent burial on May 25, in Nyarubuye Sector, which is said to have been most affected by the Genocide in Kirehe.

The event that started with a moment of silence, and later a requiem mass was disrupted by afternoon down pour for almost one and half hours.

Speaking at the function Brig. Gen. Dan Gapfizi, the Rwanda Defence Forces’ representative in the Eastern province, cautioned Rwandans against continued scores of killings in the country.

"Even after 14 years of teaching unity and reconciliation, the survivors are still being killed slowly. I think it’s high time we change the measures of dealing with this common disease which has made everyone insecure," Gapfizi said. He called upon the survivors to report suspicious cases to security organs.

Gapfizi challenged murder criminals seeking police protection to understand that the police are also a government arm that works under the laws of Rwanda.

"This time no one will kill a person with impunity. Unlike in the past when there was poor leadership, today there is good leadership. We owe a lot to the world that we need to achieve not Genocide and its ideologies," he said.

Speaking at the same occasion, the district Mayor Patrick Nkunzumwami noted that the onus lies on the leaders to redeem the country.

"Its high time Rwandans changed their mindset. Rwanda has spent almost 1000 years with leadership but it’s a pity that other countries have developed far a head of us," Nkunzumwami said.

"If we hide the truth Rwanda will take no step forward but rather will remain embroiled in killings by one group against the other," he added, urging church leaders to lead the unity and reconciliation campaign.

Turning to church leaders, Nkunzumwami castigated them for fueling ethnic divisionism. "Christianity has been in this country for a period of over 100 years but it has done nothing to foster unity among the citizens. Instead it created disunity. It’s high time therefore you revive this."

The Mayor asked the leaders to do what their work entails them, not what they wish to do. He stressed that the 1994 Genocide was largely blamed on poor leadership.

"The current government is built on unity and reconciliation. Those who participated in the Genocide and survivors should therefore blame it on the previous government. This is because unity and reconciliation is the only way forward for the country to achieve its targeted goals. And Genocide ideology should by this time be history to Rwandans."

Elizabeth Muzarirehe, the IBUKA district representative cautioned leaders against registering their relatives and friends as beneficiaries of the Fund for Genocide Survivors (FARG), when they are not orphans.

She urged the survivors to be strong, avoid HIV/AIDS and join cooperative societies to stem poverty.

"Those who killed our people though some of you have refused to unite and cooperate with us, please help us locate the remains of our people so that we can give them a decent burial," Muzarirehe pleaded.

Ends